By Andrew Day
The best time to travel from Chicago is during the dead of winter, and this year I escaped to go backpacking around India for a couple months. I had always wanted to get to know India’s sensory and spiritual overload, to savor its legendary regional cuisines, and to start to understand its long history and incredible diversity. I was interested in the friction between tradition and modernity, and hanging out in the chaos of its diverse, vibrant cities. This is the first of two stories about my trip.
The typical getaway of two or three weeks in India go quickly, but it’s possible to get a quick taste of Mumbai or Delhi, a couple of the charming cities of Rajasthan, and a requisite stop at the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Discount airlines are relatively new in India, but they serve many cities and can save precious hours between destinations. Distances between cities in Rajasthan, for example, are not so large, but a 150-mile trip could take seven hours by bus. The train system serves nearly every part of the country. Its long lines and crowded platforms can be daunting, but it’s a great experience. I liked reading or meeting other travelers over tea and snacks, as this enormous country passed along outside.
English is spoken widely and well. Good planning and a current guidebook are essential to help skirt annoyances like loud hotels and long ticket queues. There’s no preparation for other things –- intense heat, dusty air, constant noise, surging traffic and crowds, occasional power outages and dodgy infrastructure, and barnyard animals meandering in the street.
I started on India’s west coast in Mumbai (Bombay), a city of many superlatives: India’s financial engine, movie-industry capital, city of opportunity, and perhaps the world’s largest city within 10 years. It was curious to see fussy British architecture in the tropics, above the din of taxis and autorickshaws. The cafes and restaurants of central Colaba and Churchgate are popular, as is the long refreshing shoreline of Marine Drive, curving up to Chowpatty Beach. Riding the doorless, jam-packed commuter trains was unique; the real challenge was jumping off of a moving train at a station before people on the platform began jumping onto it. Rock-carved temple caves at Elephanta Island are an easy day trip. Also worth considering is a tour of the enormous Dharavi slum district by a local organization. Some consider "slum tourism" to be exploitative and crassly voyeuristic; others see benefits in that the majority of tour proceeds go to charities supporting childrens’ schools and women’s entrepreneurism.
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